Sanctus
by Reef-2-VB
Summary: Remilia didn't want to be Queen... she just wanted out. She settled for life as a vampire, but all did not go as planned when her younger sister gets dragged into it and loses control of herself...
1. Chapter 1

Their lives shouldn't have turned out this way.

"There is… there is no…cure… There is no cure… It can't be cured… there is no cure…" She muttered to herself, curled up on her bed, covering her ears, but it didn't stop. It wouldn't stop.

_The screaming._

"There is no cure… there is no cure… there is no cure…" And another scream. "There is no cure, there is no cure, there is no cure…"

It didn't have to be this way. It was all her fault. She let herself die, she let Patchouli revive her, she let Kurumi turn her, and then-

_Another scream._

"There is no cure. I couldn't stop it. I couldn't stop it. It has to be this way. It has to."

If only she hadn't brought Flandre into this. She could've become the Queen. She could've mourned Remilia's "death," she could've gone on with her life.

Outside, the moon was rising. The moon was rising.

Remilia pushed herself off of her bed and went to the window, leaning her head against it and listening to her sister's screaming. Burning her in the sun might have been easier. Maybe. But Remilia wasn't sure. There was no way to be sure.

Why did it come to this?

Remilia watched the moon rise, and listened to the screaming.

The moon was rising. It was so red, _so red…_


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

The witch was staring expectantly at her. She sighed, and for the millionth time answered, "Yes, this is what I want."

"…okay, Princess Scarlet."

"Call me Remilia."

"…Princess Remilia."

Young Remilia Scarlet sighed. This witch was getting on her nerves. "Princess" this and "Princess" that… she was so sick of it! Which is why she was going through with this. Now. Today. Her only regret was leaving her younger sister behind… though it was necessary. Her sister would become Queen instead of her, and Remilia wouldn't have to deal with a job she wasn't ready for.

It was selfish.

Though at this time, Remilia was okay with that, as long as she didn't think too much about it. The witch had given her a way out of life as a Queen, so she was taking it.

"I am going to revive you in exactly one hundred days, Princess Remilia." the witch said. "Once you have woken up, we shall move to… where, exactly, did you say we were moving to?"

"The mansion my parents gave me. Nobody else will use it, and it will be empty."

"We shall move to Scarlet Mansion, then. You probably won't remember much right after you wake up, Princess, but your memories will return to you quickly." Remilia nodded, annoyed by how long this was taking, especially since she knew all of this already. They'd been over it a thousand times. She was just starting to worry that the witch would ask if she was sure again when the witch said, "Drink the potion now, if you are ready."

Remilia opened the bottle and, without hesitating, quickly drank the small amount of potion that was inside. Afterward, she felt no different.

"Are you sure this works?" she asked the witch, looking at her. The witch simply nodded in response.

"You will drop dead any second now."

Well, that was a wonderful thought. "Oh, fine then, I can wait a few seconds." She paused. "What was your name again?"

The witch began to speak, but the young Princess only caught the first bit before she suddenly collapsed on her bed, heart stopping immediately, without any warning.

"I am-"

_Introductory chapters. Very short, very boring._


	3. Chapter 3

"-Patchouli Knowledge."

The witch watched the vampiress raise an eyebrow. She'd come to this island without any warning and suddenly asked for a favor... the vampiress found it a bit random.

"And what can I do for you, Miss Patchouli?" she asked.

The witch said, "I need you to turn somebody, Miss Kurumi."

Kurumi's mouth dropped open. "What? Why? Who?"

"You see, there's a princess from the other world - Miss Scarlet - who came to me recently while I was over in her world. She told me, 'I'm supposed to be Queen soon, and I really don't want to be.' So I decided to help her, and together we came to the conclusion that death was the best option." Actually, that part was only casually mentioned by Patchouli, and Remilia thought it was a wonderful idea. "So she's dead at the moment, and I must wake her up in ninety-eight days. I can only revive her a few minutes... that's when I need you."

Kurumi thought about it for a few moments before asking, "What's in it for me?"

"I will seal your beloved island away from the world, and nobody will ever bother it again."

Kurumi smiled. "Fair enough, Miss Patchouli. Ninety-eight days, you say?"

"Yes, ninety-eight. Three minutes from now it will be ninety-seven, though."

"I shall see you there."

"I will be expecting you." 


	4. Chapter 4

"Wake up!"

The silence was broken.

It had been there for a long time... possibly an eternity.

But now a voice had broken it.

"Miss Remilia, I am Patchouli Knowledge, the witch. Do you remember me? I need you to get up now, Miss Remilia, we only have a few minutes."

Remilia Scarlet opened her eyes, and saw nothing. She had something in her hands that she lifted and tried to look at, but again she saw nothing. Maybe she'd gone blind. She dropped the object and pushed herself up before attempting to rub her eyes... only to discover that she was blindfolded. Well, at least she wasn't blind. (Most likely.) She removed the blindfold from her head as she asked, "Why do we only have a few minutes?"

"You will die within the next few minutes."

She turned her head quickly to look at the witch, eyes widening as she dropped the blindfold. "That wasn't part of the-"

"Calm down, Miss Remilia. You will live... but you must get out of the coffin first."

Remilia looked around and realized... she _was_ in a coffin. The object she'd had in her hands before was a black rose, and now it was sitting next to her in the small space. Well, at least she knew that she really had died. She pushed herself up - slowly - and stood still a few moments, before taking a step forward in the coffin. Okay, she could walk. She lifted her foot out of the coffin and onto the ground. Well, it didn't seem like being dead for a hundred days did much to her body, at least.

"Good, now come with me." Patchouli said, turning away to walk toward the forest surrounding the cemetery.

"Wait, what about my coffin?"

"My assistant will take care of that. Come now."

_What assistant?_ Remilia wondered as she walked after the witch. There was nobody else around, and Remilia had never seen her with anybody. It didn't matter, she supposed, as long as the job was done.

They didn't wander too far into the forest before Patchouli stopped walking and called out, "Kurumi, I've brought her."

The vampiress had been sitting in a nearby tree, half asleep, before the witch called for her. She quickly flew down from the tree, landing in front of Remilia and startling her. "Forgive me, Miss Scarlet, if I scared you just then~" Kurumi sang. "I am Kurumi. I'm here to grant you the immortality and freedom you long for."

Remilia blinked. "Immortality?"

"Yes," Kurumi laughed, "I am going to turn you into a vampire."

Before, this might have surprised Remilia. She would've denied vampires even existed. But she had been brought back to life by a purple-haired witch, and the fact Kurumi was going to turn her into a vampire didn't seem that strange at this point.

"Well, let's get on with it, shall we?" Patchouli said. "We have to make it to your mansion before the sun rises."

Remilia nodded, and Kurumi stepped toward her, grabbing her shoulders. "This shouldn't hurt much. In all honesty, I think growing the wings is the worst part."

"Wait, what-"

But Kurumi bit her before she could say anything else.

_These chapters are short, and boring, and I hope that they will stop being that way soon. XP_


	5. Chapter 5

"I hope you don't mind, but I already moved myself in while you were dead, Miss Remilia."

The mansion was dark and plain, there were no pictures on the wall, there was no food in the kitchen, and at night it seemed really, _really_ dead in here. And now, the mansion was their home. "Why, again, are you living here with me?"

"I need to settle down… I need a place for my books. And I can't really get out much. When you came to me, Miss Remilia, it gave me an excuse to settle down somewhere."

Remilia stopped walking, saying, "Well, Patchouli, I'm glad you decided to stay with me. Being immortal alone would probably be very boring. But honestly, I'm not liking the whole 'Miss Remilia' thing now… could you perhaps just call me Remilia? Even Remi would be fine."

"Oh, um… of course, R-Remilia." Patchouli coughed, and Remilia continued walking down the hall.

"The library is down that way." Patchouli said after a few moments, and pointed down another hall. "I will be living in there, with my assistant. You may put your room wherever you like; it _is_ your house after all."

"I will see you tomorrow night, then?"

"Yes. You shall meet my assistant then, too."

"Good night, Patchouli… or, rather, good morning."

Remilia began opening doors to bedrooms, not being able to find one she wanted for a while. Finally, she came upon a room with a very large bed - much larger than she really needed - and decided _this_ was her room. She'd have to fix it up later, of course, because it was as plain as the rest of the house.

She sat down on the huge bed and reached back to touch one of her wings. Her _wings_. It was so odd, now, to think that she was a vampire… a vampire, with wings, and an appetite for blood - which hadn't really come up yet - and who knows what else.

She was free_._

_Chapters are gonna be less boring after this, I swear. xD_


	6. Chapter 6

The following night began with flying. Remilia still wasn't used to flying, so she wanted to practice before she needed to meet Patchouli in the library. Her wings felt so natural that it was _really weird_. Growing wings had been a painful process - she felt like something was ripping its way out of her back - but now she realized that it was worth it.

She landed by a tree near the mansion to rest after flying around for a while. Even in the darkness out here she could see just about everything, and she could hear even the tiniest sounds… Like something in the bushes nearby. Remilia stared at them until the source of the noise appeared: A little red-eyed rabbit, which stared at her for only a few seconds before running off somewhere.

Remilia returned to the mansion after a few more minutes and went to the library. Patchouli was sitting at a table near the entrance, which Remi realized was a good thing after seeing how huge the library was. There were bookshelves everywhere, each of them filled with books, and yet there were still books sitting all over the floors and tables, underneath chairs, and piled in boxes.

"How do you live with so many books?" Remilia asked, and Patchouli quickly turned to face her, obviously not having expected her so soon. The witch began coughing uncontrollably, and it seemed like she wouldn't stop until finally she groaned and mumbled, "Please don't scare me like that." She stood up and walked over to Remilia, and looked at all of the bookshelves. "These are all of the books I've collected over the years. More books than any person could dream of reading in their lifetime, of course, but when you have eternity…" She trailed off and cleared her throat. "Now, Remilia, you must meet my assistant. Koa! Come here you little devil!"

Remilia raised an eyebrow, but it became obvious what she meant by "little devil" pretty quickly. A red-haired girl ran out from the maze of bookshelves after a few moments, with wings coming out of her back… and her head. "Yes, Mistress?" the girl asked, looking at Patchouli but glancing at Remilia once or twice out of the corner of her eye.

"This is Remilia Scarlet, the owner of this mansion." Patchouli said, looking at Remilia. The red-haired girl turned to face the vampiress and bowed.

"Very nice to meet you, Mistress Remilia! I am Koakuma, Mistress Patchouli's assistant. If there is anything I can help you with, please feel free to ask." she said.

"Nice to meet you, too." Remilia said, and Koa smiled at her before running back to do whatever she'd been doing before.

Patchouli turned to Remilia and said, "Well, then, that gets introductions out of the way… You're free to do as you please, Remilia, as it is your mansion. I planned on reading, so I'll be here if you need me for anything."

Remilia pouted as Patchouli returned to her table. Great, now she didn't have anything to do.

_Could always fly around some more…_ she thought, turning to exit the library. First official night as a vampire and she was already bored.

_This is what I wanted, though. A little late to change it now…_

_**Forgive me for this late update. Also, this was going to be longer, but I started it and then did not look at it a long time, so I forgot what I was planning to do…**_


	7. Chapter 7

A few weeks passed like this:

Remilia flew first thing after she woke up, practicing flying as much as she could, before returning home and bugging Patchouli for a bit. Sometimes she'd talk to Koakuma, though the little devil was busy sorting through books most of the time - there were so many of them, and Remilia felt a bit sorry for her - so she left her alone. Sometimes she'd read some of Patchouli's books, and sometimes she'd sit around in her room staring out the window. There wasn't much to do here at all.

"You never wander too far from the mansion," Patchouli noted one day, though she didn't look up from her book, "so maybe if you did, you wouldn't be so bored all the time. I mean, you can do whatever you want now, as long as you're inside before the sun comes up."

Realizing she was right, Remilia wandered further away from the house that night, deeper into the forest than she'd gone any other time. She didn't think anything would be too different, though.

She was wrong.

The young vampire had landed, taking a break for a few minutes, when she heard something in the bushes. She turned her head, thinking it was probably just some small animal, but instead saw… a person. A person with rabbit ears, red eyes, black hair… and she was carrying something wrapped in a blanket. The rabbit-eared girl stared at Remilia for a few moments, before mumbling, "You're that girl from before…"

Remilia barely comprehended what she said. Something was distracting her… some sweet smell, some sound that stood out from all the others. She couldn't figure out what it was.

The rabbit girl suddenly came toward her, holding out whatever she was carrying and mumbling, "P-please…"

Remilia blinked, taking it from the rabbit, and looked to see what it was. Her eyes widened a bit.

"P-please, help her… Please…" the rabbit said, looking up at the sky and taking a few steps back. "Let nobody have her." And without warning, she turned around and took off.

"W-wait!" Remilia called after her. Too late.

Now she was standing there.

Alone.

Holding a small, white-haired child.

_Just a short update to let everybody know I haven't completely forgotten about this! I'm sorta having writer's block, so this was really short, but then again… I guess it's expected by now. ._


	8. UPDATES

UPDATES.

So, I've basically decided to re-write Sanctus and start a whole series of alternate backgrounds in a series I'm calling Touhou Takuitsuteki. Why am I calling it that? My somewhat-reliable translator told me that means "Alternative," so I'm going to put my faith in that.

First I'll be working on a Moukou fanfiction that is currently being worked on. The prologue should be up some time this weekend or next week. There is no title so far, but I'm working on it. Working with Moukou isn't something I'm used to, but I'm trying. It's got a whole complicated little background story and ties into Sanctus briefly, while opening the door to a Koishi fanfic that I've sorta started planning.

Hope you look forward to it!

Go wild, it's Gensokyo~!


End file.
